Thanks to the huge success of Farmville, city building sims are popping up everywhere. Bulkypix has brought Kobojo's city building game PyramidVille to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. PyramidVille started its life on Facebook and gained about 6 million players online. PyramidVille Adventure iOS edition adds some new features such as trading with other nations along the Nile, but also keeps the core attractions such as social gaming. PyramidVille Adventure is a universal game for iOS and it's a freemium game with in app purchase options.

Gameplay

As the name suggests, PyramidVille Adventure sets in ancient Egypt. You can play as either Cleopatra or as Ramses and build your city from ground up. I must say it's odd to see Cleopatra herself running around the city and doing all the work. The good news is you can modify the look and outfits of your character, much like in the Sims games. City building is easy and fun, and like most of the building simulation games, you start out with a few buildings, items and options; as you grow the city and population, more items open up for purchase and more buildings become available. You can also expand your land as you gain higher and higher population levels.

PyramidVille Adventure has a large scope of city building aspects mixed in with some historic facts. You can clear the land to discover stones and minerals, cultivate farms and grow better and better crops and vegetables, create craftsman buildings to produce different materials for trading and building your city. There is animal keeping, city decorating and eventually unlocking famous wonders such as the Great Sphinx or Lighthouse of Alexandria. But don't get yourself too excited yet, because PyramidVille Adventure isn't a fast paced game. It uses Energy points to limit how many things you can do, and when your energy count runs out, you must wait for it to recover or purchase more via IAP store.

PyramidVille Adventure on iOS added an additional activity: trading with the nations along the Nile. You have a dock and a boat at the start of the game, you can upgrade them as you advance. More trading partners will show up as you discover more places and produce more goods. The commerce aspect ties to the gameplay very well and becomes an essential part of your city building as you trade for rare materials for special buildings and wonders. While your ship is at sea, you can even play some short casual side games such as fending off pirates, boat racing and night loading games. These are easy to play and quick games to keep you entertained while waiting for your boat to come back or most likely waiting for your Energy points to go up.

PyramidVille Adventure also brought Facebook to iOS version. You can send and receive gifts from your Facebook friends.

Graphics & Sound

PyramidVille Adventure has bold graphics with large figures that are easy to see. Touch control works perfectly at controlling the character and building the city. The game offers very logically laid out menus and user interface, and you can easily get to the items you can buy at the Market, the building you can create and goods you can trade. The graphics though look simple they have a distinct Egyptian style and give players quick access to anything they want to do. PyramidVille Adventure has background tracks that sound peaceful with Egyptian flair. It's nice to listen while playing the game. Sound effects are minimal with some sound for your actions in both city building and trading.

Conclusion

PyramidVille Adventure is an exclusive installment of PyramidVille for iOS gamers and it brings a full set of city building sims features. You have a lot to do in the game including expansions and trading. The game is a bit slow paced as you wait for the Energy points to allocate your activity. There is a good amount of items, buildings and materials without purchasing IAP options, but there are also plenty of unique ones that you do need to purchase.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: -4- Simple yet bold and gets the job done.Sound: -4- Peaceful tracks that go with the gameplay, has some sound tracks. Controls: -5- Controls work perfect with help from clear and logical menus.Gameplay: -4- Strong enough city building gameplay, slowed by Energy points you have to wait for.

Playing Hints and Tips:

-Watch your Energy points, and play your moves.-The debris regenerate, so keep clearing them for stuff.